I was recently hospitalized for 6 days. I admit it was because of a suicide attempt. I surprised myself when I asked to be served diabetic meals. Surprised myself because of what I had just attempted.

No problem, I was told, we are having turkey for dinner. There was about two ounces of turkey, cooked. Mashed potatoes, gravy, bread, pasta salad and a sweet dessert. I indicated I could only eat the two ounces of turkey and it wasn't enough for a meal. The staff (half the staff reminded me of Nurse Rachet in one flew over the cuckoo's nest) ridiculed me, telling me since I am fat it would be good for me to only eat the small amount of turkey.

I was promised diabetic meals for the rest of my stay. Breakfast was french toast with a box of frosted flakes and a banana and 2% milk. The staff doctor flat out told me I had made it up when I told him that 2% milk had more carbs than whole milk or cream (which I had dared to ask for). Cream for coffee was powered carb-y stuff.

My first lunch was a scoop of rice, a scoop of corn and a scoop of pinto beans with a pasta salad and a sweet dessert.

They asked me to make a list of what a diabetic could eat (this is a hospoital setting, remember). I listed low glydemic vegies and protein. Dinner was a huge plate of all kinds of beans, green, legumes, etc. No seasoning, accompanied by a pasta salad and a sweet dessert.

Breakfast was two one pound junks of pressed ham that made me ill to look at it and two COLD soft boiled eggs. The staff was furious when I said disgusting, unpalatable low carb food was not acceptable and invited them to join me in eating the gross pressed ham (they declined, as did I). This meal, BTW, was the only low carb meal I ever got.

I begged for a scrambled egg, a sausage, a piece of meal, a green salad.

The nightmares meals kept coming. Stir fried rice with sweet and sour chicken (the stuff with fried batter), ever the pasta salad, bananas at just about every meal, always a sweet dessert. One breakfast entre was six slices of swiss cheese (which I am allergic to but of course they accused me of making that up), a banana and two hard boiled eggs.

The kitchen seemed to think I should be content to eat nothing but plain hard boiled eggs for six days and the staff really gave me abusive grief for refusing. They would not give me mayo for the eggs (told me I made it up that I could eat mayo), forget mustard.

The kitchen was absolutely clueless what a low carb meal is. The staff was increasingly abusive with me for continuing to insist I had a right to eat healthy meals.

They were testing my glucose levels and telling me 169 was not really all that diabetic. They accused me of just secretly wanting atkins to lose weight. They told me I just wanted special meals to get attention for myself.

No one ever took note (except for the attorney I called the very first minute I had a chance to make a phone call) that it was great that I wanted to eat healthy even after I had just tried to kill myself.

I was told I didn't need big meals because I am fat.

Breakfast on the sixth day, the day I was leaving: all the patients got a cheese omelette with sausage and berries for the fruit.

I have filed a complaint with state licensing administrative law proceeding and my lawyer tells me this joint could lose some state funding for failing to provide special diet food. The situation that landed me in that place was a nightmare but the abuse I endured over the food was worse.

How could this happen in a hospital? The meals are contracted out so it is not a hospital kitchen and the hospital staff has no control over what food is provided.

I am so sorry that on top of your first nightmare you were thrust into another. I would certainly question the ethics of a hospital who says a BG reading of 169 is not really all that diabetic. That's like saying "I'm only a little pregnant."


The biggest problem with asking for a diabetic meal was that you got diabetic meals--based on the ADA diet. That's how I got started with Atkins first. I ordered a meal planner from the ADA and it told me to build my meals from carbs first. It also told me to call my health care provider because I would need to raise my meds to cover the rise in my BGs. Since that seemed absurd to me, I decided to try Atkins. I recently switched to Bernstein to gain more control over my diabetes.

Hang in there and use this forum like the life line it can be. There are lots of people here all willing to help you and be supportive of you. Take care of yourself.

thats an awful experience to go through.i hope you,re feeling better now.i can,t see hospitals changing their ways until the diabetes associations reform the recomended diet for us.
i was in hospital as a day case last year and i got served a salad sandwich for lunch.it was made with 2 of the thickest slices of white bread that i had ever seen.needless to say i only ate the salad.

look after yourself.

christine

I'm so sorry to hear of the verbal abuse from the crappy people there!
Remember, there is a *special* place in hell for each one of them.

My mother in law and I were on Atkins (still are) when she had scheduled surgery at Mayo's hospital of Phoenix. Her first *liquid* meal was AWFUL. There was NOTHING she could drink or slurp. We counted up the carbs for this liquid lunch and it came to well over 200 grams of carbs. Fortunately, I had packed nuts for her and some hard boiled eggs and even fancied some *deviled* eggs in the hotel room (pre-packaged mayo and mustard from the breakfast and room had a mini-frig). I brought her fruity drinks for interest and she made sure she got the HELL out of there within 48 hours. The RN REFUSED to bring her anything other than what the nutritionist had on the menu because (get this) 'The Nutritionist will be VERY upset and angry to know you are on Atkins.' To which my mother in law replied, 'I don't give a fat fanny what the nutrionistalist thinks.' However, the RN refused to accomodate her. She was simply asking for salad and some meat and said, 'if you can't give me solid food, please ask them to puree some vegetables for me.' Refusal again. So much for a great medical organization huh?
We were fortunate because the LVN (LPN?) was on Atkins and would go down to the kitchen and steal food for her (bacon and cooked eggs, real roast, etc).

Boy It is awful #1 the treatment you got from the staff!!! and #2 that they could not respect you decisions and try to accomidate you...If you were Jewish and they were Christian and you wanted kosher meals that would be descrimination why is it any differnet...why if people do not believe in something do they think it gives them the right to control others.

you know I work at a hospital and there are a bunch of uneducated close minded people in the health care field when it come to anything that doesn't fit their low fat high carb this is good for you cookie cutter
I see the meals they give the diabetes her and the carbohydrates are way too high and all that potatoes and rice or tortillas is just as bad as sugar

Good Luck!!!

Promise us that the next time you feel so desperate, you'll call somebody for help. Low fat hell for 6 days is just that, but it sure beats death.

Why? I just don't get this. How can a man who helped so many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people become so much healthier cause such violent knee-jerk reactions in nutritional 'professionals'? Did he sell classified secrets to terrorists? Did he beat his wife? Was he a child molester? To listen to people in the health care field, you'd think he did all of these things.

His only claim to fame was that he was a doctor who made sick people well. Maybe it's because he did it so much better than most physicians practicing today, and did it without all their drugs and surgeries, that he is reviled by so many who should know better.

I now avoid the use of the word 'Atkins' entirely when describing my diet, because I know some people's minds will just shut down if I do. When I say I'm on a Bernstein diet, however, people are always all ears. They've never heard of him. When I begin to describe the diet, they sometimes say, "Oh, that sounds like ATKINS!" I say, "No, it's nothing like Atkins. It's designed especially for diabetics." That seems to be good enough for them and they'll continue listening.

I did this with my boss, whom his physician had on Glucotrol. Guess what? Two weeks after buying Dr. B's book, he threw away the Glucotrol and his fasting reading is averaging 85 mg/dl. (He's also losing weight like crazy.) I consider this a great moral victory. He also says that he's going to have serious words with his doctor about any damage done by the Glucotrol. If he needs any help in the future, he will demand Glucophage XR. One friend, one doctor at a time, we'll win this war. I'm sure of it.

Jim

my god that is shocking I would put in a formal complaint, why should you be traeted this way. hospitals usually cater for so many different diets espically in this day and age!!
Hope you are better and not getting so low that you feel taking your life is the only way out!! Ive been there, but didnt actually atempt it, I just hope you have people around you who care and can listen

Actually, Bernstein is more restrictive than Atkins in the OWL phase (no fruit permitted!).

Dr. Bernstein does have in his book (pg 325-326) a letter that can be sent to your doctor/hospital when you have elective surgery or a hospital stay planned and know in advance that you will be there. In the letter, he suggests that you request a "normal" diet instead of a diabetic one so that you can more easily select choices that will work with your chosen plan as well as a request that you not be given IV fluids that contain glucose or have your diabetic supplies taken from you by hospital staff. He also suggests that you cc (copy) the hospital administrator and a relative or close friend (or I'd even suggest your lawyer if you anticipate problems with cooperation) and note that at the bottom of your letter.
When we are outside the hospital, we are responsible for maintaining our blood sugars. That should not change or be hindered simply because we are admitted to an institution of healing.

I know. I'm lying when I say "It's nothing like Atkins." I'm not, however, lying when I say that I haven't lost one second of sleep over it.

I actually just say I am watching my carbs and no one has batted a eyelash. I don't think I am lying. Aren't we all on our own little plans that work for us?

I am updating my eating plan, as I go in accordance with meter readings. Guess we all are "meter readers" now!

I wouldn't either. If they're not interested enough to do the research on their own and "catch" you, it's their loss.
Now, if someone actually came back to me and said, "You know, I did some reading after our discussion the other day and the two plans are really quite similar." I'd smile and say, "Good! Now we can discuss this from an informed perspective!"

Doitnow - it's not easy to stand up to hospital staff the way you did. Brava!! It sounds like you are going to make it easier for all the lowcarbers who follow you through that place.






I generally just tell folks I'm eating restricted carbs. If they ask if it's like Atkins, I say it is 'something' like it - but I do it to maintain blood sugar control and it's helped tremendously.

That's always gone over ok.

I found this after my recent hospital experience. Wish I had it before I went in It would have saved some aggravation.

Gerald

Dr Bernsteins Corner
August 14th 2001

Don’t Permit Hospitalization to lmpair Your Patients Blood Sugar Control



If ever it is necessary for you to become a hospital patient in the United States, the chances are overwhelming that no reasonable thought will be given to controlling your blood sugar. Most of the medical orthodoxy doesn’t do it anywhere else, so why should they do it in the hospital?

The reasons, of course, are many: lack of blood sugar control skills on the part of most hospital medical staff; unawareness of the importance of normal or near-normal blood sugars in the face of illness or surgery; and an almost pathological fear of hypoglycemia (and the potential for lawsuits if it occurs). Many if not most hospital dietitians have been in_doctrinated by the ADA, with the result that diabetic inpatients are forced to eat “normal” high-carbohydrate foods and are deprived of protein and fat. Some of my patients tell stories of having to sneak in their own insulin, throw out hospital food, and fight tooth and nail with well-meaning but uninformed hospital personnel.

Many studies of hospitalized patients have demonstrated that ele_vated blood sugar delays surgical healing, delays recovery from infec_tions, and leaves patients open to new infection. It also has been shown to increase death rate of patients who have been hospitalized from heart attack or stroke, and increases the likelihood of a new stroke or heart at_tack.

What can you do to help keep your blood sugars under control while in the hospital?

Most of my patients live great distances from my office, so that I am not the admitting physician or surgeon when they are hospitalized, and as such I am not in a position to write their orders, help control their di_ets, and directly oversee their medical care.

After sharing the frustration of my patients over the years, I’ve come up with a letter that has worked repeatedly for elective hospitalization, such as for surgeries planned in advance. As you will see, it relies on the prevailing fear of litigation that appropriately permeates the medical care system in this country. You or your di_abetologist should send this letter to the admitting physician, with a copy to the hospital ad_ministrator. I’ve composed the letter as if you were writing it; since the odds are that you are not under the care of a diabetologist. It can, of course, be modified to suit your circumstances.



Dear Dr. __________

I am scheduled for admission to your hospital on _______

I have Type (1 or 2) diabetes and am naturally concerned about control of my blood sugars while hospitalized.

It is now generally accepted that elevated blood sugar levels impede recovery, prolong hospitalization, and increase the incidence of hospital death. Major health problems brought about by inappropriate blood sugar elevations during hospitalization have justifiably led to litigation.

Since I have been successful at keeping my blood sugars essentially normal around the clock, I naturally expect equivalent care while I’m in the hands of medical professionals.

I currently take the following medications for controlling my blood sugars:
[List here doses, times, and purposes of medications: “basal insulin (or OHA) to cover the fasting state – must receive even if not eating.” “prelunch (breakfast, supper) insulin (or OHA), to be skipped if meal is skipped.” Detail also any use of insulin or glucose tablets for correcting off-target blood sugars, etc. Also indicate your target blood sugar. You may also include a sample log sheet and request that all medications used by the hospital be listed on it if you are not capable of listing them yourself.]

My hospital orders should call for a “normal diet” and not a “diabetic diet,” so that I can select my own meals.

Routine intravenous fluids should not contain caloric substances such as glucose, fructose, lactose, or lactated Ringer’s solution (except for treatment of blood sugars that are below my target). All of these substances will raise my blood sugar to unacceptable levels.

Normal or half-normal saline solutions are perfectly adequate for routine hydration.

If I am conscious and without cognitive impairment, I should have full responsibility for treatment of my diabetes – without outside interference.

My blood sugar meter and blood sugar control medications, including insulin syringes, should not be confiscated by hospital personnel. This is a barbaric practice that is rapidly being abandoned in modern hospitals.*

If I am unable to care for my own blood sugars, I expect that the hospital staff will exercise every effort to maintain my blood sugars within the range of [00-00]



Sincerely,





Cc: [Hospital administrator]

[Close relative or friend]



*Many hospital pharmacies do not stock the products that we commonly utilize, such as 25-30 unit insulin syringes, ultralente insulin, and Humalog (lispro).





Richard K. Bernstein, M.D., F.A.C.E., F.A.C.N., C.W.S.



For Information on Dr. Bernstein’s book "The Diabetes Solution" go to www.rx4betterhealth.com or visit Dr. Bernstein’s site a

http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com

Recently in the hospital I found every meal to include up to four servings carbs. B: french toast, 3 half slices, grits, juice and milk...L:milk, roll, dessert plus an entree with starch; dinner about the same. I asked my endo about this, he said the turnover is so high and education level is low. Seems like those levels of carbs even exceed the ADA. I guess we not only have to monitor our own bgl but every bite of food in the hospital.